If the gender politics of the Raunch Hands were controversial 30+ years ago (and they were, as you will see below), I'm not surprised you don't hear them much on the air these days. In fact, I can't find reference to a single Raunch Hands spin on KEXP in recent years - even on Shake the Shack, whic…
Sylvan Esso released their sophomore LP What Now in April and today the band has shared a video for the song "The Glow." The song is a celebration of young love and the video directed by Elise Tyler follows the lives of various young couples in New York who end up at a Sylvan Esso concert. Sylvan E…
As previously reported, Chris Cornell of the legendary band Soundgarden has passed away. We now have footage of the very last song Soundgarden played before Cornell's death last night in Detroit. "Slaves and Bulldozers" was a deep cut from the album Badmotorfinger and is an interesting choice in l…
UK trio The xx are heading out on tour soon (including a Monday, April 24th stop at CenturyLink Field), but before they go, they've shared a video for the track "Say Something Loving." Director Alasdair McLellan captures young Londoners caught in lazers and love. On Facebook, the band state, "We w…
The 2016 Summer Olympics kick off this Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 200 nations will compete 28 different categories: synchronized swimming, table tennis, canoe slalom, and many others (that seem less fun to me). Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid, Chicago, and Tokyo to host, and in hono…
Peter Michel seems to be living in the breezy midpoint in between lying in bliss and getting lost in the moment, so it's fitting that the Seattle' musician and his comrades in Hibou opened the Bigfoot stage on a day that fell into that same feeling. Most of Hibou's catalog runs at a midtempo pace a…
British outfit The Big Pink burst on the scene with their 2009 debut album, A Brief History Of Love, for 4AD, propelled by the massive pop single Dominos that showcased their widescreen fusion of rock, pop, and electronic styles. The band recently released their new EP, Empire Underground, signalin…
Anxiety, nausea, discord - they're not just the frequent subjects of Parquet Courts' songs, but the feelings their fans get while waiting between albums. Usually, the wait's never too long, as the Brooklyn group eases jitters by alternating albums and EP's in quick succession. The extra months it t…
Parquet Courts go on location in this clip for "Berlin Got Blurry," a single from their forthcoming fifth full-length Human Performance, out April 8th via Rough Trade. Director Claes Nordwall follows frontman Andrew Savage as he meanders about the scenic European city, riding the train, using pay …
Former Fiery Furnaces frontwoman Eleanor Friedberger returns next year with her third solo full-length, New View, out January 22nd on Frenchkiss Records. The album was recorded "live to tape" with her backing band, Icewater, and producer Clemens Knieper in a converted barn studio in Germantown, Ne…
The last time I posted on The Smiths in this space, I was pretty bummed about the disappearance of various local businesses and the gloomy weather. Good thing those days are behind us, right? Hahahahaha! Ha! Ha. Suffice it to say it's been a while, and there are a number of fine Smiths albums with …
If Chaz Bundick, a.k.a. multi-instrumentalist/producer Toro Y Moi, is one of the founding fathers of chillwave, he seems to have defected in recent years to a rogue nation operating under somewhat looser rules and conditions. In this new land, framed by Bundick’s most recent LP, What For?, a greate…
In a manner of speaking, frontmen Tim Jenkins and Tom Crandles are master tightrope walkers. The duo behind Au.Ra balance shared singing duties, varying music styles, and even hometowns (shuttling often between Sydney and London) with striking ease and control. Take “You’re On My Mind”, the first s…
Portland awoke to the resounding hiss-and-crack of PBR tallboys and the camp-tastic house party vibes of local band Wampire Sunday afternoon at Project Pabst. Their hazy psych rock medley was followed by charmingly twee local pop group Wild Ones, who delivered meticulously jammy indie pop. Lead sin…
Matt Johnson's The The is yet another band (or musical project, if you prefer, since it seems to have been Johnson and whatever troupe of brilliant musicians he could round up when it came time to make a record) that I never listened to in their heyday/my youth, and I can't quite figure out why. Ma…
I'm very excited to announce the launch of Immigrant Songs, a cool new series that highlights foreign-born musicians and their music along with unique stories of the immigrant experience. I'll be curating the series alongside Wo' Pop host Darek Mazzone. While Derek and I have always championed a wi…
It's hard to live up to a name like theirs, and harder still to shine brightly for over fifteen years, but Stars have not only lost none of their shimmering allure - they've somehow turned an amorphous Canadian collective, on par and in cahoots with Broken Social Scene, into a consistently producti…
It's difficult to imagine something Steve Earle hasn't done yet, but, believe it or not, until recently, the Texas-raised singer, songwriter, performer, actor, writer and teacher had yet to sing the blues. On his new LP, Earle pays overdue tribute to those who preceded and inspired him, and like th…
Carrying on the long tradition of the Motor City's vast musical heritage, Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas drop by KEXP to electrify our live room with their exhilarating and captivating energy. The Detroit’s rockers are in dazzling form - Hernandez' voice, with its vibrato and quality a bit more…
Remember when The Decemberists performed on the NBC show Parks & Recreation? Well, now one of the stars of that TV show, Nick Offerman, stars in the video for the Portland band's track "Make You Better." Watch their hilarious spoof on a '70s German interview show below. The Decemberists' upcom…
